God, injuries are annoying. I mean, nothing disrupts a team’s good mojo like a poorly timed injury to a key player. And every year, it seems like there are more and more. Or maybe they’re just more noticeable because they seem to be happening to marquee players. A lot of these injuries are not just your garden variety cuts, scrapes, and oblique strains. I’m talking arm and elbow injuries that require Tommy John surgery and knock a pitcher out for up to 2 years! What’s at the heart of these injuries? What is the cause? Well, “arm strain” is the obvious answer. But a lot of people turn the attention and subsequent blame on youth baseball, and how a lot of serious-minded kids are playing baseball year round.
Okay, I get it. It makes sense. Too much strain on a young arm can lead to future problems. Kids should give it a rest, play another sport if they must (presumably one that doesn’t rely on unnatural motion of throwing a ball), or just relax and play some video games.
Well, maybe I just live in a world of denial, but I kind of like that my son plays baseball year round. Not because I hold any delusions of him becoming a professional baseball player. (Hope, yes – delusions, no.) But because it’s what he wants. It’s all about what HE wants. <Cue my sheepish smile.> Okay, yes, there is a dose of living vicariously through my son’s baseball talent, nominal as it is. While I don’t “push him,” per se, I also don’t discourage him from playing on a club team.
The fact is I enjoy watching my 13 year old son play baseball. He loves it and he’s pretty good at it. I’m well aware that the odds are astronomical against him going any farther than high school, maybe college. But I firmly believe that without a year round attention to the game and playing of it, the odds would even worse. I honestly believe that without the presence of our hitting tee and bounce-back net in the backyard throughout the year, his skills would deteriorate.
Playing the game throughout the warm Southern California months allows him to keep his skills sharp, and even allows them to progress. At this age, he needs that. Would those skills bounce back if he took a couple months off? Maybe. But I doubt it. And clearly I’m not alone. There are several club teams for him to choose from that play nearly year round. You can find some that play 2-3 month “seasons” at a time, and then there are some that find local tournaments every couple weeks.
Suffice to say, if year round baseball went away, a lot of money would be lost. It truly is a cottage industry. But this isn’t about economics. This about what’s best for my son. I hear the detractors: “Best for your son?? Burning out his arm is ‘best for your son?’” Well, here’s where I veer off the rails from the pundits who blame year round baseball for the physical maladies of professional baseball players.
First of all, there are dozens of major league baseball players – currently – who suffer no physical ill-effects from their commitment to youth club baseball teams. Many players have played and continue to play year round baseball from the time they’re watching SpongeBob SquarePants, and they’re doing fine. Second of all, and this may be related to “first of all,” there are a number of advanced training methods and strengthening programs a player can get into that can help avoid such injuries. As the injuries themselves have grown, so have the methods to prevent them.
I can’t attest to every player who has ever needed Tommy John surgery, but perhaps we need to look closer at individual training method before we make systematic judgments against things like youth baseball. Now excuse me while I take my son to the cages. We’ve got a tournament this weekend!